Stocks Plunge, With Dow Losing 1,000 Points

THE NEW YORK TIMES: PARIS — The global market turmoil continued on Monday, as stocks fell sharply in the United States, Europe and Asia, led by another big sell-off in China. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 1,000 points in the first minutes of trading.

Investors’ concerns over China’s economic slowdown and a souring view of emerging economies have rattled financial markets around the world in recent days, and showed no signs of letting up.

As the stock markets opened in the United States, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 5 percent. The Nasdaq was down more than 8 percent.

In China, the benchmark Shanghai composite index closed 8.5 percent lower, erasing all of the gains it had made in an extraordinary run-up this year. And in Europe, stocks fell sharply, with the main indexes down by 4 percent or more in the early afternoon. » | David Jolly and Neil Gough | Monday, August 23, 2015

UK 'Should Be Downgraded' Before France, Says ECB's Christian Noyer

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain should have its AAA credit rating [downgraded] before France, according to Christian Noyer, head of the French central bank, as the war of words between the two countries heats up following David Cameron's EU treaty veto.

A downgrade of France's AAA rating would not be justified and the ratings agencies are making decisions based more on politics than economics, said Christian Noyer, who is a European Central Bank policymaker as well as head of the Banque de France.

Standard and Poor's is due to decide whether or not to downgrade eurozone countries in the coming days following an EU agreement on Friday to forge tougher fiscal rules.

"The downgrade does not appear to me to be justified when considering economic fundamentals," Mr Noyer said in an interview with local newspaper Le Telegramme [sic] de Brest.

"Otherwise, they should start by downgrading Britain which has more deficits, as much debt, more inflation, less growth than us and where credit is slumping," he went on. » | Agencies | Thursday, December 15, 2011